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From the 1st DropWed, 04 Apr 2018 18:38:02 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.9Not All Country Rap Is Craphttps://1stdrop.co/state-of-music/not-all-country-rap-is-crap/
https://1stdrop.co/state-of-music/not-all-country-rap-is-crap/#respondSat, 16 Jan 2016 02:15:35 +0000http://theunhype.com/?p=90The post Not All Country Rap Is Crap appeared first on 1st Drop Entertainment.
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What Happens When a Previous Underground MC, Songwriter and Lyricist, Mixes Rhymes With Country, Bluegrass, and Americana?

Grand Canyon Chapter1

Grand Canyon Chapter2

Some Might Say It’s Magic

Look, it happens all the time. Some guy who writes bad poems in High School decides to hook up with his buddies Hard Rock band and change the face of music forever. Tada! It’s Rap Rock!

Then some strung out rave kid floating high on a cloud of ecstasy decides he really needs to put some more club into the club music. Tada! It’s everything on the radio in 2014-2015.

It doesn’t always go as bad as you think though. For every annoying song you hear on the radio, there is probably an established scene of artists paving the way for something interesting and new.

So let’s talk about Bear the Astronot

Bear has been a musician for decades. His aptitude for creating poetry and rhymes in school led him to become an MC at the age of 12. Now you have to remember, he was 12 in 1992, the height of everything Hip-Hop was his testing ground. He had lots of friends in Heavy Metal and Punk bands so he started rapping with them. You have to remember, this was a time ruled by the almighty Metallica. No one had even heard of Linkin Park or Rage Against the Machine. Now lets fast forward. Now it’s the year 2000, and Bear is a professional DJ. Here is an average Saturday night for DJ Bear at this time. He shows up to the club at about 8pm with 100 pounds of vinyl. He sets up and plays Old School Hip-Hop, Top 40, and Dance Music until about 1pm. He then runs across the street to a huge club for after hours. The capacity is close to 3,ooo and he plays Progressive House, Trance, and Techno until 4am. He then jumps into the car after loading up all 100 pounds of vinyl and drives across town to the After After Hours spot. A dingy strobe light and smoke machine haunted house of an adult club. There he plays Chill and Trance until 9am. A fairly eclectic Saturday into Sunday morning.

Soon after Bear starts attending Music School, and keeps telling all of his class mates that Dance and House mixed with Hip-Hop is the next big thing. They all through crumpled papers at him and offer to sign him up for counseling. Bear continues in several other bands, touring around, and mixing Rock, Hip-Hop, and Dance music with the Early 90’s Hip-Hop he loves and adores. Now lets Fast Forward again.

Bear is known as an impeccable lyricist, and is respected on the underground hip-hop scene for clever stage antics, energetic performances, and eclectic sounds that all encompass powerful Alternative Hip-Hop. But he is tired. He has done enough shows with Back Pack rappers to last a lifetime. He has always spent his time not working out in the woods hiking, hunting, and exploring. He starts to miss a simpler life, like the one he had growing up in The Grand Canyon National Park. He decides to take a break from music. During his hiatus he drowns himself in old country records he inherited from his various Country Loving family members. He spends way more time listening to banjo laden Bluegrass songs than he does 808 laden Drake tracks. He feels comfortable in something he knows as familiar. The lyrics of Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, and Willie Nelson start to burn a whole in his soul.

About this time Bear has moved way back out into the sticks. The closest venue to his property is an antique, literally historical venue called The Museum Club. This makes him feel even more at home among the dingy pictures of Country Crooners that hang with respect on the walls. And then it happens. Bear starts to make music again. How the hell is this going to work?

How do you mix Mos Def with Merle Haggard, and Sage Francis with Eric Church? Well, you just make music that feels good. That is exactly what Bear the Astronot started to do.

Now Let’s Talk Country Rap

If any genre of music could give Rap music a run for it’s money when it comes to cliches it would be country. But there we go again, forgetting that this isn’t exactly true. Radio Rap and Radio Country are full of cliches. Radio Rap about Making Money, Mistreating Women, and Stunting on Bitches gets old. So does Radio Country about Trucks, Drinking, and Corn Fields. But then you have to dissect that statement. Is a corn field really a cliche? How much of these things are actually a part of the music because they portray a lifestyle?

Well which ever way you look at it, Bear needed to work with and around plenty of cliches to avoid being summed up in the same category as Colt Ford, Big Smo and the like. There is absolutely nothing wrong with their music! It definitely has a huge crowd and serves a purpose. When you look at it though Bear could never be Luke Bryan just as much as he could never be Kendrick Lamar. His music has always, and will always sit in place that is nothing like the genres it utilizes.

The Grand Canyon Project

So the challenge is apparent. Make music that speaks about a childhood growing up in The Grand Canyon National Park, hiking, fishing, and exploring vast uncivilized areas of the United States. Add in the fact that Bear also lived on the Navajo Reservation multiple times with his Grand Mother, and experienced white water rafting the Colorado River about the same time he decided he wanted to be an MC. Confusing isn’t it. You try to reign it all together and make a rap song about it. I dare you!

So the Grand Canyon Project began with about 5 songs written to mix country and Hip-Hop. Bear hadn’t released any albums in years, just some mixtapes and the like, so once he started back in it was like someone opened the flood gates. Ideas came pouring out, and soon he had about 6o songs. Some were Hip-Hop, Some were Blues, Some were Country, Some were Bluegrass, Some something completely different. He thought about making different albums for each, but then as he thought further he remembered Magic.

That Tada! Magic that we talked about earlier. The stuff that pushes musical boundaries, and sets artists hearts free to roam as they please.

He thought about the Grand Canyon. A place were the population was about 1,200 if that during the winter and then burst into Millions of People from every country on earth during the Tourist Season. A place were Chinese and German echoed across the same canyon just as much as English. He thought about riding rivers, and camping, and DJ’ing, and opening for 2 Live Crew and Ice Cube and Young Thug. He thought about trees.

And then he released the first two parts of the Grand Canyon project.

Take a listen and decide if it’s Hip-Hop, or Country, or Bluegrass, or Blues, or Rock.

In the end who cares, just find some songs you like, and think about where you came from.

]]>https://1stdrop.co/state-of-music/not-all-country-rap-is-crap/feed/0I Knew Who Chris Stapleton Was Before He Sang With Justin Timberlake at the CMA Awardshttps://1stdrop.co/artist-spotlight/i-knew-who-chris-stapleton-was-before-he-sang-with-justin-timberlake/
https://1stdrop.co/artist-spotlight/i-knew-who-chris-stapleton-was-before-he-sang-with-justin-timberlake/#respondFri, 20 Nov 2015 04:06:31 +0000http://theunhype.com/?p=79The post I Knew Who Chris Stapleton Was Before He Sang With Justin Timberlake at the CMA Awards appeared first on 1st Drop Entertainment.
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Chris Stapleton Before the 2015 CMA’s

The second I heard Chris Stapleton and his belting voice, my ears perked up, almost like my dog Mealle’s ears orbit her head when a phone rings. Deep, emotional, raspy, and something in it’s tone that reminded me of a time well before I was born. A time well before Chris Stapleton was born.

I Did Some Research

A voice doesn’t hit me like that often. Lets face it, I listen to lots – tons – ridiculous – life altering amounts of music. I still have an easy list of voices that pop into mind as greats. I set the bar Joe Cocker high. Chris had really grabbed my attention. I was listening to the self titled album by The SteelDrivers, which by the way, I believe was a group full of amazing talent from all musicians and vocalists. Chris Stapleton, the lead guitarist and vocalist, was absolutely a stand out.

Chris Stapleton Is More Than a Voice

I jumped online to find an image of Chris. There are times where you see a musician for the first time and they look nothing like what you expected. This wasn’t one of those times. In this case Mr. Stapleton looked much like he sounded. A bit dirty and unkempt, exactly like the roaring scream he would project on songs he sang. Long beard, long hair, and it seemed just by looking at him, a long list of stories with themes of whiskey and high grass in the fields of his native Kentucky.

What really drew me to Chris Stapleton, was his story. He had moved to Nashville years and years before. He was a songwriter, with credits writing for some big names in the country realm. A real talented musician. He could write, he could play, and he could SING! He wasn’t the pretty polished Ken doll image Country Music had started to mass produce over the years. He was the face of how I felt Country and Bluegrass looked in my mind, and the voice of how it sounded as well.

You Have Got to Hear This

First, as is almost always the case, I played some songs for my wife. “You have got to hear this band The SteelDrivers! The lead singer Chris Stapleton is amazing!” I told her. She whole heatedly agreed. The next The SteelDrivers album was out soon, and just as good. Their music became a part of my everyday rotation.

No More The SteelDrivers

Well, time went by as it always does. I was many an instagram post deep sharing my obvious fanboy relationship with Chris Stapleton when I got the news. The SteelDrivers had broken up. I nearly fell into a black hole of chocolate, my favorite blanket, and Netflix binge watching, but tried to stay strong. Then the real kicker, Chris Stapleton came out with his first few songs as a solo artist and I wasn’t a fan. Actually, I kind of hated them. What had happened! Why Chris!

Traveller

Finally, Chris Stapleton released his new album Traveller, and the first time I heard it I released a sigh of release. He kept it country and roots, and made an absolutely amazing album. I wasn’t surprised at all that he won vocalist of the year at the CMA’s. It had known he deserved it for years.

Justin Timberlake, as always put on an amazing show! I think however, that the best part is the new ears that will fall upon Chis Stapleton’s music. I hope all of the new fans enjoy his music as much as I have for years.

]]>https://1stdrop.co/artist-spotlight/i-knew-who-chris-stapleton-was-before-he-sang-with-justin-timberlake/feed/0We Are Just Getting Startedhttps://1stdrop.co/theunhype-news/we-are-just-getting-started/
https://1stdrop.co/theunhype-news/we-are-just-getting-started/#respondWed, 18 Nov 2015 21:48:02 +0000http://theunhype.com/?p=66Just Getting Started Music should be about a sound and emotion conveyed through the manipulation of the audio spectrum. It’s about what you hear and feel. Hello and thank you for your interest. Please peruse the site to get more information about our mission. We are just getting started. TheUnhype.com will have several functions. […]

Music should be about a sound and emotion conveyed through the manipulation of the audio spectrum. It’s about what you hear and feel.

Hello and thank you for your interest. Please peruse the site to get more information about our mission. We are just getting started. TheUnhype.com will have several functions. First we will be writing about the music industry and music that we like. This will include some tips and tricks for musicians, album and song reviews, and just general fan stuff.

Helping Musicians

We will also be helping musicians get the word out. We aren’t just going to write about anything however. We have a mission and vision, and we will judge your music based on this. If we feel that it is a good fit, we will write up an article about your next release or show, and even give you an interview to help you get the word out. The interviews will always be based around your music, your creative process, and why you make it. We are not interested in gossip, beef, fashion, or scandals.

Unhype Artists

The Unhype Music Group will be selecting a group of artists to be Unhype artists. These artists will receive special treatment. We aren’t a label, but we along with our partner Guerrilla Music Marketers will be giving these musicians special attention and help with their careers. We want to create a community centered around music of all genres, and the belief that music is about what you hear and perceive, not all the other HYPE!

Please Submit Your Music!

If you are interested in our mission, or if you are an artist that would like to submit music please CONTACT US RIGHT NOW! We are just getting started, and at this time we are going to be gathering as many artists, and as much information as we can to help us jump off the site with some great articles, reviews, and interviews!